nd with the restoration of Perdita to the arms of her mother,
and the reconciliation of Hermione and Leontes, the piece concludes.

Such, in few words, is the dramatic situation. The character of Hermione
exhibits what is never found in the other sex, but rarely in our
own--yet sometimes;--dignity without pride, love without passion, and
tenderness without weakness. To conceive a character in which there
enters so much of the negative, required perhaps no rare and astonishing
effort of genius, such as created a Juliet, a Miranda, or a Lady
Macbeth; but to delineate such a character in the poetical form, to
develop it through the medium of action and dialogue, without the aid of
description: to preserve its tranquil, mild, and serious beauty, its
unimpassioned dignity, and at the same time keep the strongest hold upon
our sympathy and our imagination; and out of this exterior calm,
produce the most profound pathos, the most vivid impression of life and
internal power:--it is this which renders the character of Hermione one
of Shakspeare's masterpieces.

Hermione is a queen, a matron, and a mother: she is good and beautiful,
and royally descended. A majestic sweetness, a grand and gracious
simplicity, an easy, unforced, yet dignified self-possession, are in all
her deportment, and in every word she utters. She is one of those
characters, of whom it has been said proverbially, that "still waters
run deep." Her passions are not vehement, but in her settled mind the
sources of pain or pleasure, love or resentment, are like the springs
that feed the mountain lakes, impenetrable, unfathomable, and
inexhaustible.

Shakspeare has conveyed (as is his custom) a part of the character of
Hermione in scattered touches and through the impressions which she
produces on all around her. Her surpassing beauty is alluded to in few
but strong terms:--

This jealousy
Is for a precious creature; as she is rare
Must it be great.
Praise her but for this her out-door form,
'Which, on my faith, deserves high speech--'

If one by one you wedded all the world,
Or from the all that are, took something good
To make a perfect woman; she you killed
Would be unparalleled.

I might have looked upon my queen's full eyes,
Have taken treasure from her lips--
--and left them
More rich for what they yielded.

The expressions "most sacred lady," "dread mis